Horse meat scandal traced to Poland

Horse meat found in beef products withdrawn from German shelves has been traced to a supplier in Poland, newsweekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday, citing European officials.

Der Spiegel said that beef products with traces of horse found in goulash sold by low-cost retailer Aldi were produced by German firm Dreistern Konserven,

which in turn bought its meat via a dealer from Mipol, a Polish-based firm.

Dreistern Konserven acknowledged in a statement on its website that traces of horse DNA had been discovered in its products but insisted it was merely a processing firm.

"Dreistern is not involved in slaughtering nor the chopping up of meat. It buys meat already chopped up, either fresh or frozen, only from certified meat deliverers," the statement said.

Nearly 50,000 jars of this goulash were delivered to Aldi, said Der Spiegel, citing information from the European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF).

Der Spiegel also said another unnamed supplier in northern Poland had delivered some 20 tonnes of meat worth €60,000 ($80,000) to German firm Vossko via a Danish dealer.

Vossko supplies Liechtenstein-based firm Hilcona, which in turn supplies German firm Gusto, which manufactured beef tortelloni that was withdrawn from Austrian and German branches of budget food firm Lidl after horse meat was discovered.

EU authorities are scrambling to reassure consumers after falsely labelled meat has come to light in several European countries via a sprawling chain of production spanning a maze of abattoirs and suppliers across the continent.

The poor German company who were hoodwinked into believing the meat was 100% pure beef hand-reared by Buddhist monks on the Ganges delta and all for less than the price it takes to feed a tortoise for 1 day.

Horses are very intelligent and loving creatures. It saddens me to know that they are slaughtered for eating. I grew up with horses and have friends who currently have them. I do not understand how humans can be so in humane as to do what they do to these creatures. I feel the same way about dogs being slaughtered for meat in Asian countries.

While I do sometimes enjoy a piece of chicken or a rare piece of beef I increasingly am less able to reconcile killing these creatures so that I may enjoy their flesh.

The president of Germany's Council of Psychotherapists said on Tuesday that there was no reason why the country should loosen its rules on doctor-patient confidentiality in the wake of the Germanwings crash.
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